


Expectations

by biasedwriting



Category: Kpop - Fandom, VIXX
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Angst, Drama, Eventual Romance, F/M, Friendship, Slice of Life, Taekwoon as a jock
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-20
Updated: 2018-06-20
Packaged: 2019-05-26 01:22:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 20,023
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14989661
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/biasedwriting/pseuds/biasedwriting
Summary: In which Jung Taekwoon is a Jock™ who isn't as bad as bad as the movies make them seem.





	1. One

What really bugged Minah about college was not the fact that it was full of idiots, but rather the fact that her mother had promised her that she'd probably find some sensible romance there.

 

Yet here she was, watching the intra college men's soccer matches go up in testosterone fuelled flames as Jung Taekwoon, captain of the soccer team, launched himself onto Kim Wonshik, resident college dj, in an attempt to knock his teeth out for a foul. She sighed, breath fogging as she watched the swarms of students hurry onto the field to detach the two. 

 

Minah could feel herself dissociating; her eyes fixed on crowd of people and her hands clutched at the red sweater that adorned her figure. She exhaled heavily again, the fog produced blurring her vision momentarily before the figure of an outraged Jung Taekwoon being held back by his teammates came into her field of vision.

 

Why was it so fucking cold again? Why were these matches being held at night again?

 

It was the scream from the gaggle of girls beside her that snapped her back to reality. Taekwoon and Wonshik were both on the ground showing varied degrees of pain. Apparently Wonshik had slipped on the grass taking Taekwoon down with him. Or at least that was what Minah could make of the chaos. She looked around to see if there was any form of medical aid (there was none) before watching the teams pick up the two players and carry them off the field. 

 

Minah cursed, there was no first aid box in sight and by the looks of it, no one was calling the infirmary ambulance. The crowd was quickly clearing since there was really no fight to watch now. Slipping down from her seat on a bench, Minah pulled her sweater tighter around herself before marching over to the spot where the two injured players lay. She noted Hongbin, head of the gaming club, pottering around, trying to figure out how to fix the injured players without a first aid kit. 

 

Wonshik’s leg was propped up on a kit bag to keep it raised while Taekwoon glared at the field, a large gash on his arm bleeding profusely. Wonshik grunted when he saw Minah approach and she waved to him “hurts like a bitch.”

 

“No shit son.” she chuckled, turning to Hongbin  “Bean, do we have a first aid kit?” to which he shook his head “It’s in the sports office.” 

 

“Mind getting it here  please?” she asked, feeling Taekwoon’s eyes on her as Hongbin nodded, speeding away to the sports office. She turned to Taekwoon while bending down to inspect Wonshik’s leg “you’ll need to wash that out first.” 

 

She noted him rolling his eyes like she had said the stupidest thing in the world. Gritting her teeth, she turned to Wonshik, this was exactly why she avoided people like Taekwoon. There was something undeniably attractive about them, except they were absolute entitled assholes and Jung Taekwoon was no exception. Rolling her eyes back at him, she picked Wonshik’s foot up and undid the shoe laces.

 

“Did you send the minutes of the meeting to Jaehwan? They were fucking hilarious this time.” Wonshik chuckled, wincing in pain as the shoe came off  “Sanghyuk walked in at 6:30 and walked out at 6:45 and returned with a cola. Bitch didn’t share it with me.” he recited as Minah glared at him.

 

“I’m glad you’re happy with a sprained ankle.” she felt a box knocking her on the head “Oh, Hongbin! Thank you.”

 

“Called the ambulance too.” he said, settling down beside Taekwoon who was clearly upset about being off the field. 

 

“Genius.”  she appreciated as she set to spraying and taping Wonshik’s ankle before pulling the bottle of hydrogen peroxide and shaking it. Another gust of wind had her pulling her sweater closer. The wet turf wasn’t helping one bit with the cold either. Fixing her glasses, she took a deep breath and faced Taekwoon “arm please.”

 

“Don’t need it.” he grumbled and instantly Minah’s eye narrowed.

 

“If you’re done being momentarily macho and don't  want to die of sepsis, show me your arm.” she sighed, crossing her arms as Hongbin held back a chuckle as Taekwoon looked up at her shivering figure. There was nothing particularly extraordinary about her appearance. She was reasonably good looking, somewhat dishevelled and tired. He held out his arm, eyes fixing themselves on the field. She shook her head, eyeing the gash which hadn’t been rinsed out, shrugging, she poured a capful of the hydrogen peroxide on it as he hissed.

 

“Told you to wash it.” she shrugged yet again before wiping the dirt and blood off with a cotton pad. Taekwoon’s peripheral vision picked up on her movements silently as Hongbin acted as her assistant. His skin tingled with the peroxide and the sensation of her cold hands on his hot skin. Her fingertips were turning steadily blue and shaking as she tied the gauze in place “Done,” she mumbled  “I’ll wait till the ambulance comes in. Wear your hoodie, or you’ll fall sick from your body cooling down too soon.” before returning to take a seat beside Wonshik who tried to reach and ruffle her hair only to have her swat his hand away playfully and chucking his varsity jacket over him as a blanket. 

 

Minah could feel her jeans get damp as they absorbed the water on the grass. She shuddered, feeling the chill climbing up her spine. Letting out another shaky breath, she tried to focus her gaze on the field. Her vision was obstructed by heavy cotton dropping softly on her head. Blinking into the sudden darkness, she could smell the aqua scented cologne attached to it in attempts to shield the sweat of its owner. Her fingers grabbed at it and pulled it off to note that it was the college varsity jacket with “Jung TW” printed on the back. She turned to see Taekwoon returning to his seat, wearing the heavy college hoodie as Hongbin side-eyed him.

 

Taekwoon found it amusing how it hung off her shoulders loosely as she sat on the field, the game coming to a close when the ambulance pulled in. It slipped off her shoulder as she supported Wonshik and helped him hobble in. He could finally hear the crickets in the silence of the now emptying field, his soccer cleats hanging over his shoulders as the wetness of the grass seeped through his shoes. Once she got Wonshik onto the ambulance, she turned to him and nodded to the vehicle.

 

“You’ll need to check if you need stitches.” she turned, the jacket barely hanging onto her shoulders. He clambered onto the ambulance, noting her choosing to sit next to Wonshik and regularly taking peeks at his arm. 

 

The nurse declared that he needed two stitches and bedrest while Wonshik’s leg was bound tightly and he was fed with painkillers causing him to snore in the bed next to Taekwoon’s. Disgruntled, Taekwoon blinked into the darkness and noted that his jacket now hung on the solitary chair of the room. The woman wearing it had vanished.

* * *

 

 

Minah admired her ability to lie low for most part. Most of her lack of recognition could be attributed to her major which took up most of her time; the second was largely her unwillingness to really get into drama, prefering to watch than partaking in it. She had her friends in all social structures of the college system and could maintain relationships.

 

But if one had to ask her to choose a theme song for her social relationships, she would shrug and say “Here, by Alessia Cara.” the typical college life depicted in the movies wasn’t her cup of tea. Parties, drinking, and heavy social interaction made her more uncomfortable than anything.

 

Which was exactly why it was extremely simple to fade out of Taekwoon’s memory. Taekwoon’s social status in the college structure was clearly top tier filled with the dignified chaos of spoilt rich brats. In an institution run largely by the ‘donations’ of these students, it was easy for them to get away with murder. Everyone was a passing face unless they really had any purpose in their lives and while Minah had all the resources to be the same, she just didn’t find it to bring anything of value to her life, but if it helped them sleep at night, she was no one to judge.

 

So she wouldn’t be entirely surprised if someone stumbled into the student apartment block intoxicated and declaring that Jung Taekwoon or someone of the likes was a great kisser or had ensured that they couldn’t walk the next day (except there they were, walking). It was simply just another occurrence on the campus which made little to no difference in her life. 

 

What really bugged her is the fact that she really liked how Jung Taekwoon’s jacket smelled and was in half a mind to ask him what cologne he used so she could buy one. But she realized exactly how creepy that sounded and kept that thought entirely to herself. She didn’t need to interact with the likes of him until it was absolutely necessary.

 

So she let him and his jacket shift somewhere to the back of her brain.

 

Taekwoon was a distant figure for most part in Minah’s life, he was just the silent member of the noisy entourage of people who made their presence known everywhere they went. Even the library wasn’t safe from them. Though they visited it irregularly as compared to Minah, every time they did, Minah was certain she was going to physically hurt them. Finals week was in full swing and she didn’t appreciate anyone disturbing her writing process. She rolled her eyes looking pointedly at the woman sitting across her. 

 

“Haneul,” she mumbled, looking across the table at her roommate who was bobbing her head to the music playing on her earphones “why are they here?” she noted that her roommate’s eyes were fixed entirely on someone else “listen woman, Kim Wonshik will still be your boyfriend if I yell at his friends.” 

 

“Suit yourself,” Haneul shrugged, turning back to her work until Wonshik came to sit beside her. He waggled his fingers at her in greeting before pressing a kiss to Haneul’s temple. Wonshik's arrival in turn brought along the whole group of people that Minah had been so annoyed with. Sighing, she shut her laptop, trying very hard to ignore the heart eyes between Wonshik Haneul as she got up

 

“I'm going to find another place to sit.” she said, picking her laptop and spinning around to come face to face with Taekwoon. She noted the mild recognition in his eyes as she brushed past, smelling that damn distinct cologne of his which simply made her even more grumpy.

 

“Leaving this seat?” He asked, taking the seat she left behind.

 

“Have to. People can't seem to hush up in a library.” she grumbled only to hear his “ah well, can't do much about it.” before making her way upstairs to find an isolated cubicle on the mezzanine floor overlooking the group of people. It wasn't long before she heard the noise from the group below echoing through the library only to be cut across by Taekwoon's soft.

 

“Guys, we should probably keep it down.”

 

“Yeah, probably cause you need time to process that dumb reading.” Minah overheard someone's loud teasing voice.

 

“Shut up. I have a major game tomorrow evening which I won't be allowed to play if I don't pass this test.” Taekwoon hissed back and silence reigned over the library.

 

Minah sighed, of course he wanted people to shut up for his own purposes. 

 

Turning back to her screen, she squinted at her final paper, tapping her fingers uselessly over the keyboard before throwing her head back and groaning. This stupid ass paper was going nowhere and no amount of placing the readings on her head would cause the information to diffuse into her brain. Even the screen was starting to make her eyes hurt. 

 

“Paper’s fucked up.” she heard Han Sanghyuk’s voice pipe up from the cubicle in front of hers. Soon the entirety of his giant figure slowly rose from behind the partition.

 

“When has Kang EVER given us a paper that isn’t fucked up.” Minah grumbled making Sanghyuk grin.

 

“And yet, you are masochistic enough to take her course every sem. I’m done with her, I can’t sit through another course like that. This paper is giving me a proper headache and craving for ramyun” he whined, resting his head on the partition like a defeated man. Minah patted his giant head before brightening up.

 

“You know what, we should get some ramyun, sit together and finish this shit.” she whacked his head “stop making fun of my interest in history. The next course is folklore, I’d be crazy to miss it!”

 

“You’re such a fucking nerd. Now let's go! I can hear your stomach rumble” Sanghyuk chuckled, leaning over and shutting the lid of her laptop as she glared at him while getting up and following him downstairs.

 

“Fuck off, you’re in Advanced Calculus, you’re the bigger nerd.” she nudged him as they headed to the cafe on campus which was the only one which stayed open till 2 am. The temperature change from the library to the outdoors wasn’t drastic, but the lack of the suffocating atmosphere made her smile as the two trudged towards the cafe, the over watered lawn squelching under their feet. 

 

Soon they had two steaming bowls of ramyun which they happily slurped on in silence. Mainly because they were exhausted and it was unfortunate that 2am hunger struck, but also because they really didn’t have the time to dawdle. Instead the hurried back to the library with scalded tongues but happy stomachs. 

 

“You head back up, I’m going to the pantry and getting myself some water. Then we’ll motivate each other to finish this shit.” Minah whispered to Sanghyuk who was now rummaging through his bag for his other notebook, he shot her a thumbs up, head still buried in his backpack. 

 

Minah grinned, heading into the pantry, tucked in the corner of the library. It was largely bare, home to only a water dispenser. Picking up a glass, she filled it up, eyes feeling extremely tired as she closed them, exhaling heavily as she turned around into something a little too solid to be air. Water sloshed in the glass from the sudden movement, dripping down her neck and rendering her t-shirt wet enough to cling to her skin. The cold liquid made her gasp, suddenly feeling more awake; but also feeling a pair of feline eyes fixing themselves on her. 

 

Why the fuck was Jung Taekwoon turning up everywhere all of the sudden?! 

 

“Uh,” she began, trying to avoid looking at his face because he looked like he was going to crack up any second. 

 

“You’re wet.”

 

“I’m sorry.” she cringed, side stepping and exiting the pantry as quickly as possible. Taekwoon was left behind gaping at the space that had previously been occupied by her. He had finally gotten a reasonably good look at her face, though flushed red at the situation. She had sharp eyebrows, that was something that really caught his eyes, her eyes were small but they looked like they could set something on fire with just a glance (which it did, he thought he was burning into ashes the moment she met his gaze), she had clear skin which was surprising amongst college students considering the stress and lack of nutrition in general. He wondered why he was noticing all these things about someone who he had never really taken note of before, yet here he was in the middle of the library pantry, dissecting her facial features and thinking of how her shirt clung to her skin. 

 

Taekwoon shook his head before reaching for another glass and filling it and downing it in a gulp. 

 

Surely he wasn’t going to see her again.

 

That was until he entered the Folklore and Myths class he had signed up for the new semester. His jaw dropped when he saw Professor Kang at the teacher’s desk. No one had told him that this course was being taken by Professor Kang! He would have never taken it up had that been the case. He was told that English Folklore was taken by Professor Bang, the old fart whose courses were a breeze; so what on earth was Kang doing here? 

 

Hurriedly he looked at the course list in his hand and felt his heart stop. This was a the Folklore and Myths class where they applied fancy theory to children’s stories (or at least that’s what his brain could quickly process in the moment). The moment he caught Kang’s eye and noted the condescending look on her face, he knew how royally fucked he was. Professor Kang’s courses were known around the campus for being notoriously tough.

 

“Excuse me,” he heard a voice behind him to see the woman waiting for him to entirely enter the class. She blinked up at his face, looking quite baffled at his appearance. She noted that his usually dark hair had now been bleached to a silver and it oddly suited him. “are you in this course?”

 

“Uh.”

 

“Better get in, or Kang will flip her lid.” she said, easing past him into the classroom, spotting Haneul, who had her head on the desk, and taking the empty seat beside her. Taekwoon edged into the classroom, noticing that the last row was empty and plopping himself down there. 

 

“Taken another one of my courses hmm Minah?” Professor Kang smiled at Minah who grinned back. Taekwoon straightened, so the girl who fixed his arm and spilled water all over herself was called Minah. 

 

“One every semester, I love how you kill me with assignments.” she replied, pulling her laptop out her bag as Kang fixed her gaze on him.

 

“Jung Taekwoon right?”

 

“Ye-Yeah.” he mumbled, squirming in his spot as she assessed him. Kang was not particularly tall and rather plain looking, with very sharp eyes. But as most people said, short people were closer to hell, Kang was known to be the devilish professor and that reputation made Taekwoon shake in his shoes.

 

“This is a rather advanced course to be joining. I hope you can keep up. Unfortunately, there’s no backing out right now since most of the other courses are full.” she said and Taekwoon felt the sting of the comment. It was apparent that he looked like a deer in the headlights as Jaehwan chuckled from his spot in the front row.

 

“The soccer team captain in Myths? I thought this day wouldn’t come.” he laughed as Minah rolled her eyes at him.

 

“Well it has, so get over it Jaehwan.” she glared at the grinning man before turning to her laptop. Taekwoon eyed the exchange and wondered what exactly was going on before being swept away by Kang’s lecture. There was no way of making any sense of what she was saying, let alone keeping up with whatever running notes the woman seemed to give during the lesson. He was stumped watching the students in the front row type away furiously, fingers almost a blur over their keyboards.

 

This was pretty much the stupidest Taekwoon had ever felt in his life. His vision blurred as he tried his best to focus on the quickly changing slides as Kang’s voice droned down. He looked down at his phone and sighed,  at least he had the upcoming weekend’s party to get his mind off things. 

 

“No.” Minah deadpanned when Haneul asked her to accompany her to a party the coming weekend. The two had been sitting  in the coffee shop attached to the library trying to get through a reading for a class when Haneul had brought the topic up. Haneul said that Wonshik had simply extended an invite to Minah. Minah wasn’t entirely certain as to why there was even a party being held. She supposed it was one of those rage parties influenced by copious consumption of mainstream media. 

 

“Aww come on! It’s literally the beginning of the semester! You can’t complain about the lack of money or time!” Haneul frowned at her while setting aside her cottage cheese sandwich and taking a swig of her coffee. Minah shrugged, drumming her fingers on the table top as her eyes fixed themselves on the screen.

 

“Need to make arrangements for acoustic night.” she replied in monotone causing Haneul to frown even more.

 

“That will take a day or two. Just ask Jaehwan and Wonshik to get their shit together and ask the student activities for permission.” 

 

“I said I’d handle this one.” Minah continued to scroll through the reading, pausing to down the rest of her coffee.

 

“I’ll help you! Now if you don’t come I’m locking you out of the room!”

 

“I have keys, you do realize,” Minah sighed, looking up to meet her roommate’s puppy dog eyes “you want me to give you company...alright. I won’t stay long okay? Plus I’ll feel like a third wheel or something.” 

 

“Not to worry! While Hyukkie can’t make it, I have a fine replacement in the form of Hongbin to give you company in being sober whilst drunk…well, you sober and him being sober whilst drunk!” Haneul declared with a grin. “Also! How could you even suggest that you’d be the third wheel! You’re my number one priority!”

 

“I’m glad, for a moment there I thought you were setting me up with Hongbin or Hyukkie.”

 

“Hyuk’s too gay for Hakyeon and Bean is too...not interested.” Haneul counted off her fingers.

 

“I believe the term is asexual or aromantic. I’m not entirely sure which he identifies as.” Minah squinted in confusion. “Nonetheless, he is not interested and neither am I. Either way, nice to know that I will have company when you’re making out with Wonshik.” 

 

“We don’t always make out!”

 

“Whatever, I have a partner in cringe.” Minah grinned, getting up to pay for the coffee and sandwiches as Haneul picked up their laptops.

 

“Fuck off.”

* * *

 

Minah wasn’t entirely wrong about feeling entirely out of place at the party. It was in some rented place with flashy lights, loud music, and suspicious alcohol. She was certain there was a room with all the smokers in, their dazed gazes looking at each other through the grey haze. Wonshik and Jaehwan had swept Haneul away as soon as they had arrived leaving Minah and Hongbin to look at the mess that had already been created. She could vaguely identify Monsta X playing really loudly as she shifted closer to Hongbin. At least she was glad they had arrived late so she could spend as less time as possible in this suffocating atmosphere.

 

“So apparently this is for the soccer team winning a tournament. The invites spiralled out of control.” Hongbin tried to voice over the loud music as he sidestepped some broken glass. He looked around for the beer, choosing to start off slow while finding a clean can of Sprite for Minah. Minah looked around, half of the people were people she knew by face but not by name. She smiled awkwardly at the people who met her eyes hoping Hongbin would return with their drinks as soon as he could. 

 

“Apparently they’ve set up a gaming room in one of the rooms. It’ll just be a bunch of us chilling in there if you want a safe space to be in.” Hongbin said when he appeared beside her, handing the can over to her. She cracked it open, it had gone lukewarm.

 

“Minnie-aaahhh!” Jaehwan’s voice echoed in the room causing the two to cringe as Hongbin raised his fingers to plug his ears. Jaehwan was probably the only one who could possibly be louder than the actual music at a party.

 

“Probably drunk off one bottle of beer.” Hongbin mouthed, chuckling as Minah wrestled Jaehwan off her shoulders. Apparently struggle was futile as Jaehwan firmly latched onto the grumbling woman and squealed in her ears. 

 

“We’re karaoke-ing in the corner so come join usss!!!” he yelled enthusiastically in her ear before dragging her away, completely ignoring all her attempts to tell him that public singing was completely off the table for her. Hongbin looked at her pitifully; waving as she got dragged away.

“SAVE ME!”

 

“No, this is too much fun!” he called back causing her to curse at him. He grinned back as the crowd swept him away and that was the last of what Minah saw of Hongbin that night. 

 

The space was starting to get oppressive, the heat from many bodies in one room was suffocating. She felt a jerk at her hand and turned to see Jaehwan grinning at her, his grip on her hand still firm as he helped her weave her way through the crowd. She adored Jaehwan, he was one of the heads of the music club and was incredibly talented. He was constantly holding workshops on campus to help people. 

 

He was also fucking annoying when he was drunk.

 

“Minnie-ahhhh, do you wanna sing with meeee?” he said, almost swinging her into someone who caught hold of her before there could be any real impact. She glanced up to see Taekwoon’s flushed face glaring at her, nudging her off  before stumbling through the crowd. Taking a deep breath to steady herself, she turned to reject Jaehwan’s request.

 

“No…” 

 

“Awww we shouldn’t disrupt this now should we?” Jaehwan’s gaze was fixed on Wonshik’s terrible rendition of some old trot romance song whose name Minah couldn’t entirely remember. She cringed as Wonshik sat on a beaten up couch, holding his mobile phone as a microphone and serenading Haneul who was perched on his lap. Every pause in the song was punctuated with a loud kiss to her cheek and Minah shuddered at the sight. She loved her friends, she really did, but this was exactly what she meant by feeling like a third wheel. 

 

“Minah! We thought we lost you!” Haneul called from her seat on Wonshik’s lap, holding her arms out for a hug like they hadn’t seen each other for years. Minah sighed, she loved Haneul to bits and would go to the ends of the world for her, which was why she found herself being squished and cuddled by her roommate and best friend. She tried very hard to ignore the fact that Wonshik had his head buried in Haneul’s neck, pressing open mouthed kisses there. 

 

“Hannie, is Wonshik hecka drunk?” she mumbled into her roommate’s ear and Haneul nodded.

 

“Initially he was singing into a shot glass.” she said, somewhat exasperated, but she sound equally endeared. Minah grinned, patting the top of Haneul’s head.

 

“I’ll take the bus back to the campus, you should take care of him. I don’t feel great here.”

 

“But sisters over misters! We can head back and do something fun!” Haneul tried to stand up as Minah shook her head.

 

“It’s all good, I’ll just head back, I’ll get the acoustic night stuff started up. Don’t worry about me, okay?”

 

“Take Hongbin with you, at least!” Haneul looked at Minah, worried and Minah nodded to reassure her.

“Sure, I’ll go look for him.” she replied, knowing that it would be a futile attempt to locate Hongbin in the crowd, she wasn’t even sure if he’d be able to hear phone calls at the decibel level this party was going.  Right now Minah was prepared to do anything to get out of the oppressive heat of the party. 

 

Not bothering to look for Hongbin, Minah made a beeline for the door. Stumbling out into the cool night, she let out a heavy breath. The rented villa was not very far from campus, used very often for such parties by the students of the college since the college disallowed underaged drinking. It was somewhat isolated, not within the city and the sudden change from blaring music to absolute silence was stark. Minah shivered at the sudden cold. If she walked a short distance down-hill she would be able to catch the shuttle bus to the residential campus. She heaved another sigh before heading forth coming to a complete halt when she saw the sight in front of her.

 

Taekwoon leaned heavily against his vehicle, inebriated, he had come out for air and was suddenly struck with a deep sense of melancholy. He snorted, people like him weren’t really supposed to have such feelings, but when he was repeatedly reminded on a daily basis that his brain wasn’t good enough, it stung. It stung like the cold wind which had picked up and was cutting past his cheek. He sat down slumped down in front of the teal vehicle, heavily displeased. Even though he had won the match, he hated how stupid Kang made him feel.

 

Minah gaped, he looked a little like an image straight out of a manhwa with his silver hair, varsity jacket, ripped jeans, and the gloomy expression on his face. She ought to go get the bus, she really should have. But Jung Taekwoon with a giant pout on his drunk face was a little too much for her to miss. Minah found herself inadvertently stepping towards him. 

 

Taekwoon nearly jumped when he felt movement beside him, his eyes shot open to land on Minah who was squatting beside him, blinking curiously. He opened his mouth to order her to fuck off, but she spoke first instantly silencing him.

 

“For a drunk guy passed out, you’re pretty cute.” she grinned, ruffling his hair.

 

“Fuck off.” he grumbled, swatting her hand away and glaring at her bespectacled face. The sight of her annoyed him. How was it that she managed to understand what was going on in Kang’s classes?  She clicked her tongue.

  
  


“Too bad you’re an idiot. Alright. I’m off then.” She stood up, taking a step away and Taekwoon could feel the flare that shot up within him subside. He noted that she took a few steps away pausing for a few seconds before returning. She slid down beside him and took a seat on the sand. He looked at her in her red and blue plaid shirt and plain blue jeans, her white sneakers in sharp contrast with his black ones. She raised her eyebrow as his stoic gaze.

 

“See, I can’t leave you drunk and pouting here. So I’m going to wait till you sober up a little more and get you back to campus.” she shrugged.

 

“Why would you do that?” Taekwoon narrowed his eyes.

 

“Because I’m a responsible adult,” she grinned, pulling her phone out “I’ll call a cab.”

 

“Can’t leave my baby behind.” Taekwoon grumbled, vision blurring as he leaned heavily against the car. Fuck Himchan for getting him so drunk, fuck Kang for making him so angry, fuck this woman for bothering him so much.

 

“So, I’ll drive you back to campus then.” 

 

“Fuck no, you aren’t allowed to touch my baby.” he curled away from her and pouted even more when he heard an amused laugh leave her lips.

 

“Hey pouty brat, give me the keys and let’s get you back to campus.” she waggled her fingers in front of him, indicating that he drop the keys in her hands.

 

“I am not a pouty brat!” he spat pausing when his stomach rumbled making Minah laugh even more.

 

“We’ll buy pizza or grab McDonalds on the way.” she cooed, having dealt with drunk Haneul more than once had made her rather adept at bribing people into doing things. What she didn’t expect was to see Jung Taekwoon, one of the most popular men in college, rummage for his precious car keys in exchange for food. The enthusiasm in his actions was somewhat endearing. Handing the keys over to her he nodded.

 

“Alright. McDonalds fries sounds amazing right now.” 

 

“Than shall we head there? Or do you want to sit here for a bit?” she asked, as he shook his head.

 

“Fries and a Big Mac.”

 

“Mhmm,” Minah hummed, standing up and dusting herself off before holding her hand out. Taekwoon examined the proffered hand with narrowed eyes causing Minah to roll her own “I will abandon you here if you don’t get your ass up.” he gripped at her hand as she tugged his weight up, stumbling forth into her arms, Taekwoon found himself leaning heavily on her, she smelled vaguely like some kind of flower that he couldn’t entirely place his finger on. She could handle his weight pretty decently for someone of her stature. He smiled into her hair, leaning even more onto her frame.

 

“You smell nice.”

 

“Thank you bub, you need to get into the car.” she huffed, shifting her center of gravity to adjust to the long noodle-like man using her as a support. He was warm against her cold skin and the damn cologne was now too close for comfort. Biting down on her lip, she hitched him up, struggling towards the car. He was little to no help getting the door open as he vaguely hummed into her hair “Jesus Christ Jung, at least get in.”

 

“Got it got it.” he said, stumbling into the passenger seat and fumbling with the seatbelt, getting increasingly frustrated as he missed the lock and the belt kept sliding back into position. Minah ran her fingers through her hair, trying very hard not to be amused. Clearly the initial hostility was to ensure that she didn’t see this mess. But she couldn’t deal with the fumbling anymore. 

 

“Here, let me.” she said leaning over to click the seatbelt in place. She could feel Taekwoon giggling.

 

“What is it?”

 

“Your glasses are pink.”

 

“Why yes, they are.” she said, shifting away and shutting the door. Taekwoon lazily looked at the path she took to the driver’s seat, getting in and shutting the door behind herself. Sticking the keys into the ignition, she backed out of the space Taekwoon had parked in. Taekwoon hummed into the silence, mind wandering as he looked at his surroundings. 

 

“Did you get back your grade for the first response note?” Minah asked tentatively and all of the sudden Taekwoon remembered exactly why he was upset. Minah noted that his face turned sour almost instantly.

 

“Kang?”

 

“Makes me feel stupid.”

 

“Yeah?” Minah supplied, eyes fixed on the road. She was aware that Kang was being extra tough on Taekwoon for no good reason except for being somewhat of an elitist. It didn’t help that Taekwoon didn’t have any foundations in the course to help him manage to get through it.

 

“You all make me feel stupid and I don’t like it. I hate how things don’t make sense. I hate it.” Taekwoon glared out of the window as Minah took a turn towards the McDonalds which was on some godforsaken road. 

 

“Is it something we do?” she asked softly.

“You guys understand! And sneer at me when Kang does ask questions that I can’t even begin to comprehend!” there was a whine in Taekwoon’s voice that made Minah want to pet his head like a puppy. She chose instead to focus on the road, the large yellow sign shining brightly a few meters away. Turning into the drive-in, there was a silence which broken by the crackle of the server asking them for their order. Soon Taekwoon was wolfing down on a Big Mac as Minah guiltily at her large order of fries.

 

“Are...you mad at us?” she asked, her fries not touched. Taekwoon looked at her before taking another hungry bite of his burger stuffed with fries. Swallowing, he sniffled.

 

“Do you think...I am stupid?”

 

Minah frowned, turning to him, his silver hair fluttered as a gust of wind blew in “what? No.” she noticed that Taekwoon wasn’t really taking her word for it “urgh, how do I explain this? Intelligence...isn’t always academic; however much people...especially Kang might want you to believe. You’ve heard people call you a genius on the field, you’re aware of your surroundings when most people aren’t. So what if you aren’t academically inclined...it doesn’t make you stupid.” she said, looking at her fries, finally picking one up to eat it, feeling Taekwoon’s eyes on her. She forced a few more fries into her mouth, trying to pretend that his gaze didn’t bother her. Either way, he wouldn’t remember this.

 

“Should we head back to campus?” she started again, adopting a lighter tone and looking at him. His head faced the window and his eyes were closed. She sighed, clearly he had fallen asleep thanks to her speech. She ate as many fries as she could, wiping her fingers off on a piece of tissue before restarting the ignition. 

 

The drive back to campus was silent, but the air was heavy as Minah tried to focus on the road. Moonlight streamed in through the windows, lighting up the path as Taekwoon slept peacefully. Thankfully it wasn’t more than a fifteen minute drive as Minah drove up past the campus security, halting to wake Taekwoon up. He whined and blinked quickly, eyes squinting to adjust to the light and sleepily turning to Minah.

 

“Which block?”

 

“G.”

 

“Fancy new block, okay.” she nodded, turning the vehicle in the direction of it. Taekwoon looked dazed as they reached the tall imposing building and Minah turned off the ignition.

 

“Can you make it back to your room okay or do I need to call someone?” she asked, unbuckling her seatbelt before clicking on the button to undo his. He shook his head, eyes fixed on her hands as they moved back to pick up the doggy bag of fries “alright. I’ll...see you when I see you then.” she said reaching to unlock the door “and Taekwoon.” she called for his attention “let me tell you a little secret. We all feel stupid in Kang’s class. We just pretend we have a clue as to what is going on. Just a little thing to keep in mind.” she said with a smile.

 

Taekwoon met her eyes, brain sober enough to comprehend what she was saying. The moon reflected off her spectacles but her smile made her glow. His heart felt a little lighter as he nodded, his stomach rumbled noisily as nausea crept up his gullet. She turned to open the door and he found himself calling “Minah,” Taekwoon noticed her freeze, as she turned around. This was the first time her name had left his lips. Leaning across, he pressed his lips to her cheek and shifted away breathing out a  “thank you.” he said before opening the door and ejecting his dinner onto the footpath. 

 


	2. Two

The incidents of the night had been brushed away as drunken affection. Minah had had such experiences with some of the drunk entrants to her apartment building. While these were mostly female, Minah realized how little physical affection she had been exposed to growing up and that she didn’t know how to react to such situations except to gape into space till her brain switched back from the buzz of white noise to some semblance of normalcy.

 

Minah’s brain was thrown back to momentary confusion when Taekwoon approached her in class. Haneul looked equally confused when she heard Taekwoon’s soft voice calling Minah’s name and Minah’s entire frame going frigid. 

 

“You dropped your student id in my car.” he said, handing her the small plastic card while Haneul shot her a look. While Minah had briefed her about the happenings from the weekend (and Haneul had successfully strangled Hongbin for abandoning Minah) she wasn’t entirely sure of what to make of the weird atmosphere between the two.  

 

“Oh, uh. Thanks!” Minah replied, feeling some of the stares of her classmates. Something about what Taekwoon had said back on Saturday had deeply unsettled her. Kang was being an absolute prick to Taekwoon for no particular reason except for the fact that she thought him incapable. She reached out to take the card from him beforet taking a deep breath “why don’t you sit here?” she asked, pointing to the empty seat beside her causing several eyebrows to shoot up. Taekwoon regarded her silently before slipping into the seat and opening his laptop. 

 

“Email id?” Minah whispered as Professor Kang made her entry. She eyed Taekwoon’s new position in the second row with suspicion before turning to set up the system. He quickly whispered his email id to Minah whose fingers quickly flew over the keyboard of her laptop. Taekwoon’s email notification alerted him of the arrival of a new email which he tried to hush by initially waving frantically at his laptop and then hitting the mute button.

 

He clicked open the notification to see Minah’s name on the screen with “Myths and Folklore Notes - Invitation to Edit” written on it. Taekwoon turned to briefly look at Minah who was looking straight ahead at Kang. He clicked open the Doc to see bulleted notes for all the readings, simplified and occasionally humourous. The chat window opened on the doc.

 

_ “Today we’re talking about Frazer’s theory of Myth Ritual. Don’t get too daunted, the general premise is that people had certain traditions (magical rituals) which they used to explain nature, this evolved into myths to justify the ritual. He goes on to say that  myth then evolves into religion which is then refuted by science which is the evolution of the same.” _

 

_ “Got it.”  _ Taekwoon typed back _ “Thanks ^_^.” _

 

Minah held back a giggle. Jung Taekwoon used cute emojis. 

 

“So Taekwoon, what do you understand of what Frazer has to say? ” Kang’s voice was directed at Taekwoon whose eyes widened momentarily before he took a deep breath eyes fixing themselves on the screen in front of him. The little bar flashed next to the words that appeared with Minah’s fingers gliding over the keyboard. 

 

_ “You’ve got this.” _

 

“Well, he said that myths were used to explain rituals and justify them which in general was in relation to nature. But I was wondering if this could be applicable in a situation not based on this ‘natural law’ he speaks of? Like, what about rituals not based in nature?” Taekwoon processed and thought out loud. Minah could feel a swell of pride surge through her chest. 

 

Kang gaped at the silver-haired man  for a few seconds before recovering and clearing her throat “uh, yes, we’ll be covering that in this class.”

 

Taekwoon glanced at Minah who was beaming. All of the sudden, going to Kang’s class didn’t feel so terrible. He looked back at the screen which was quickly filling up with notes. The little message on the chat made him smile. He was going to be okay.

 

* * *

 

 

“I am not okay, what is this paper?!” he groaned as Minah hissed at him to be silent in the library.  He had taken to sitting in her vicinity to ensure that he wasn’t entirely screwing up his papers. He waved the reading over his head, leaning closer to her “can you please tell me who this Melonpiss is and why his name is that?”

 

“I can’t help you with this one! We all had to choose different topics!” Minah groaned “plus we have a general body meeting in like half an hour for the fest, so get as much of it done as possible.  Use JSTOR and Google Scholar and put in the bits you DO understand. Kang may be a bitch, but she appreciates effort.” while Taekwoon depended on her to make sense of the readings, she was happy to see that he was an attentive listener and grasped concepts quickly. Given the right push, he could easily tackle one of the readings on his own. She smiled softly to herself, Taekwoon may have been labelled a jock, but he didn’t really fit the trope. He was redefining the term for her.

 

Taekwoon grunted before turning back to his laptop. This was the second time he had to skip gym in his whole course at the university to finish a paper and both times it was for Kang’s course. With the college fest coming up, there was no way he could keep up with the no gym, no sports regime. Plus with his new position as head of soccer for the fest, he’d have to sit down and make calls to other university representatives to invite them for the fest. He looked at Minah from the corner of his eye, there was no way she was the type to take part in the fest, it involved sports and cultural events neither of which Taekwoon had seen her take part in. But since she had mentioned the general body meeting, maybe she was taking part in some weird event.

 

He casually switched between tabs to watch the livestream of a regional soccer match. Fuck, he had to go for the basketball team practices as well. He sighed.

 

“Taekwoon,” he heard Minah’s voice calling and he turned to see her still busily typing away “get away from the soccer tab and finish the paper. You have a weird look in your eye.”

 

It was funny how they had picked up on each other’s odd habits from just sitting close to each other. Taekwoon found it strange that a few months back, he had no idea who this person was. Minah was decidedly not someone of major consequence so to speak. Not a lot of people knew her except for members of the music club or people who shared courses with her. She was definitely not a part of the crowd he usually hung around with, but he quite enjoyed her company. 

 

Taekwoon blinked, quickly switching tabs, trying to ignore the giggle that left her lips. Minah checked her phone and sighed, stretching out before shutting her laptop and getting up. Haneul and Wonshik joined her from the mezzanine floor with the isolated cubicles with grins on their kiss swollen lips. Clearly movie date night had gone of pretty well. Taekwoon shook his head, shutting his own device down and heading out of the library.

 

The general body meeting, from all of Taekwoon’s experience was always chaotic as hell. Having so many people crammed in a single room was bound to make it noisy. Sober Taekwoon did not like noisy in any shape or form. He cringed when he entered the hot room, grinning when he saw Joonmyeon and Himchan standing up front. Hakyeon was handling all cultural events and Doojun was handling the sports events. Joonmyeon was the chairman of the fest. Doojun bumped into Taekwoon’s side with a giant grin.

 

“Yo you fucker, are you ready to trash our rivals this year?” 

 

“Of course.” Taekwoon rolled his eyes as Doojun thumped his back. Joonmyeon blew into the microphone for silence. Taekwoon busied himself with his mobile phone, checking the score for the matches he had been watching before. Minhyuk, who had just appeared, peered into the screen and grunted approvingly.

 

“Great match man.”

 

“Yea-”

 

“Could I please have the head of soccer here! We need the rest of the soccer department to join him!” Joonmyeon called out, causing Taekwoon to hastily shove his phone into his pocket and saunter forwards.

 

“Each team will be assigned a person from the registrations team who will assist you in your calls to teams outside the uni. Once you’ve noted down the people on your team, head over to Sooyeon who’ll tell you the person who you’ve been assigned.” Hakyeon instructed as Taekwoon blankly stared at the group of admiring eyes that had surrounded him. Pulling his phone out, he grunted to them to give him their names and email ids. The whole process took him about twenty minutes before he told them to disperse and headed over to Sooyeon who was known to be a tough nut on the campus (other than being Lee Jaehwan’s girlfriend). With her strong communication skills, there was no wonder she was heading the registrations department since they would be the point of contact for most of the incoming players and participants.

 

“Uh, Sooyeon,” he called for her attention as she spun around to look at him “registrations incharge for soccer?”

 

“Oh! Hold on!” she said, scrolling through her phone “I’ve assigned you Kim Minah, since you have a giant team to help and you have experience, I thought it would be best I assign her. She’ll have enough time to juggle between heading the creative writing event and doing registrations for soccer as well.”

 

“Sooyeon, so I might go missing from the registrations tent every now and then, I just got selected for the tennis team. Also which department did you pair me with?” Minah piped up from behind Taekwoon.

 

“That’s fine,” Sooyeon called to Minah before turning back to Taekwoon “Taekwoon, this is the registrations member I’ve assigned you with. Since we already have a database for phone calls and emails, you can start making them as soon as possible. Minah, you’re helping the soccer team out since they need the least manpower.”

 

“Oh?” Minah turned to Taekwoon and he shrugged.

 

“Help me with the paper while you help me make calls?”

 

“Fuck right off.” she grumbled as he grinned.

 

“I’ll get the team together to make calls on Thursday.”

 

“Sure, I have tennis practice for an hour from 5. So does 6:30 sound okay?” Minah asked in a business-like tone. Taekwoon looked at her for a moment. He had never really thought about Minah actually playing a sport, let alone tennis. But something about it fit.

 

“Uh, yeah.” he replied.

 

“Alright then, I have to talk to my team, so I’ll see you.” she replied, hurrying to the two people standing and waiting for instructions from her. Taekwoon’s gaze followed her before being distracted by Minhyuk asking him for a treat for being made the head of soccer. Shoving him with a grin he asked him to “go eat at the cafeteria.”

 

* * *

 

Acoustic night was surprisingly a success. Minah smiled to herself as the crowd of college students dispersed slowly leaving behind the dewy lawn with mattresses and bedsheets Minah had borrowed from the staff for this very purpose. Wonshik and Jaehwan were helping return all the sound and light equipment to the facilities manager. Haneul had carried away the fairylights they had had installed for the evening and now Minah was left smiling at the empty lawn, deeply satisfied with her work. The evening was chilly and she had to get to picking up the sheets to return them. Even though there were clouds in the sky, you could see stars and the moon shone on the damp grass. She sighed, leaning down to pick up a colourful sheet, probably from the lost and found donated graciously to her by the facilities staff. She shook it to get the grass off before folding it. It was a slow monotonous process, but she got done with half the sheets before wondering where the fuck the rest of her team was.

 

“Why didn’t you sing?” a soft voice caused her to jump and nearly drop the folded sheets in her hands. She spun to spot Taekwoon now picking up a sheet hidden somewhere far in the corner before looking up to meet her eyes “you sing, I saw you sing at the freshers talent night, why don’t you sing anymore?”

 

Minah sighed, dropping a bunch of sheets in a stack “stage fright. Besides, there are way better singers than me, it’s better promoting them.” she hurried over the large expanse of the lawn to find another sheet thrown haphazardly.

 

“I’m surprised you have stage fright,” Taekwoon said, dumping a set of sheet on the stack Minah had created “I thought you sounded good on talent night.”

 

“You don’t even remember talent night.” Minah laughed slumping down heavily on the last open sheet beside the pile of sheets, exhausted by all running back and forth. Taekwoon dropped the last sheet on her head making her exclaim as he took a seat beside her.

 

“You sang a song in both Korean and English, I thought it was pretty impressive.”

 

“So you do remember,” Minah sighed, face colouring at the memory of her having so many audio issues and spending most of the week beating herself up for sounding terrible “how come you came for acoustic night, thought you had practice.”

 

“Yeah,” Taekwoon sighed, leaning back “ I did, we broke early so we could come for acoustic night. I hit the gym in the morning since Wonshik said he might need my help with the sound systems in the evening.”

 

“Thanks,” Minah smiled at the stars, exhaustion getting stronger as she groaned out “last favour, do you mind if I lean against you? I’m so fucking exhausted.”  

 

Taekwoon turned and Minah gaped at his back “rest your back against mine, it’s more comfortable.” Taekwoon said, looking at the sky, hearing her exhale heavily before feeling the warmth of her back resting against his. The crickets were loud as the moonlight shone on the two of them. “So, stage fright.” Taekwoon began making her chuckle, a pleasant sensation rumbling against his back. He decided he quite liked her laugh.

 

“Long story.” 

“I have all night.” he replied picking at the frayed end of the bedsheet.

 

“Till curfew.” she corrected, twirling the damp grass between her fingers.

 

“Till curfew.”

 

* * *

 

 

Minah glared at Taekwoon as he tried to avoid her gaze. It was 7:30 on Thursday and not one member of his twenty member team had turned up to make phone calls.  Now here they were with a giant database to make calls from and little to no help to do it. 

 

“You have a shitty team.” she grumbled, spinning the tiny mobile phone which had been bought for the very purpose of these calls. They had made about forty calls in the last hour and while a few were hits, many were misses. What made it even worse was that both of them hated making phone calls. 

 

“I know, I know. I'll buy you dinner to make it up to you.” Taekwoon offered as she shook her head.

 

“There's really nothing to make up. I don’t mind.” she shrugged, slumping forward onto her laptop. Taekwoon shook his head before reaching across the table to pat the top of her head.

 

“Coffee?”

“You spoke the magic words.” her voice was muffled, making him laugh.

“So I can treat you to coffee?” he asked, making Minah look up.

 

“Oh I thought you were going to be gallant and use your energy to run and get me some coffee,” she chuckled “that sounds great. You can buy me a coffee for every paper of yours I’ve had to go through.”

 

“They weren’t so many!” he whined, amusing her no end as she stood up.

 

“Alright alright, I’ll pay for my coffee.”

 

“That’s not what I meant!” he grumbled, standing up and following her out of the library. Spring was nearly upon campus and the weather was fine. Minah wasn’t entirely sure as to what to make of Taekwoon’s behaviour. This was definitely not expected, especially when she could feel all the eyes on them as they walked across the campus and entered the cafe. 

 

“Yo Taekwoon…” Minhyuk, who had been lounging in the cafe began greeting Taekwoon but paused at Minah’s appearance before raising his eyebrow at Taekwoon.

 

“Minhyuk, you didn’t turn up for registration calls. We were stuck calling dimwits.” Taekwoon threw a sugar sachet at him, ignoring the look as Minhyuk’s suspicion subsided and he smirked at Minah. “What will you have?” Taekwoon called to Minah as Minhyuk furiously typed away at his mobile phone, Minah peeled her eyes away from the suspicious behaviour.

 

“Just an espresso.” she mumbled making Taekwoon narrow his eyes.

 

“Are you really ordering the cheapest drink here because I’m paying?”

 

“I’m ordering it because I happen to like espressos,” Minah laughed as Taekwoon ordered a latte “unlike weak people who need copious amounts of milk in their coffee.”

 

“Shut up, this is probably why you’re so short. You don’t drink enough milk.”

 

“No Taekwoon, this is called genetics.” Minah rolled her eyes, taking the coffee from him before heading to a seat to settle in. Taekwoon knocked Minhyuk on the head before taking the seat beside Minah. 

 

“How many calls left?”

 

“About forty, after we go through the first round of calls and then some more registrations, you’ll have to make the second round of calls.”

 

“Fuck.” Taekwoon groaned, considered the fact that his team would not show up.

 

“Yeah, that. Plus I have to make my own calls for the Writing event, so I’m hoping your team turns up, or I’m going to ask to be reassigned.” she shot him a wicked grin.

 

“You know I will trouble you in class right? I’ll talk to Sooyeon so you can’t be reassigned,” Taekwoon retorted, taking a deep sip of his coffee before turning to Minhyuk “you heard her, the team needs to assemble tomorrow for calls. No excuses. If people don’t turn up, they’re off the team.” he instructed, taking his phone out and typing out a message on the group. He looked at Minah who gazed out of the window, the heat of the espresso fogged her glasses momentarily.

 

“Ye ye, we’ll be there.” Minhyuk grinned at Taekwoon who grinned back.

 

“You’d better be.” he paused turning to Minah “wait, do we have a reading for Kang’s class tomorrow?”

 

“No, we don’t. Which is why I agreed to making calls today.” she looked at her phone and cursed “fuck, I need to head for my meeting. Thanks for this Taekwoon, I’ll see you tomorrow?”  she said, downing her coffee and scalding her tongue in the process.

 

“Wait, I don’t have your number!” he called her back and she frowned.

 

“You wanted my number?”

“Yeah, it’s easier to just arrange meetings and stuff. Plus I was told to add the registrations rep to the football team group.” he explained, and Minah nodded holding her hand out for his phone and punching in her digits before calling herself and hanging up.

 

“There you go, see you around.” she smiled, hurrying out.

 

Taekwoon grinned at his phone as he leaned back in his seat. 

 

Taekwoon chuckled when the first message came  **_“I swear if you call me in the middle of the night to help you out with Kang’s papers, I will not answer and I will leave you to die in her class..”_ **

 

**_“Animal memes?”_ **

 

**_“I’m always game for animals and memes.”_ **

 

Minhyuk did not miss the looks, and couldn’t help but wonder why Taekwoon and Minah seemed closer than people just working together for the fest.  

 

Which was one of the reasons why Minah was a little confused at the curious stares of the rest of the team when she arrived to make calls. All twenty of the members seemed to be analysing her from top to bottom, making her incredibly uncomfortable as she settled down and pulled her laptop out. She looked around to search for Taekwoon who was missing and she sighed. She missed having him around her, a thought which surprised her.

 

“Right, so I’ve shared the database with you. We need to make calls to the last forty on the list. Those who confirm get highlighted in green, those who don’t in red, and those who are not sure in yellow. If there are people whose names have previously been highlighted in yellow, call them back and re-check. I’ll draft the email you’ll need to send out from your committee to those who have confirmed. So please divide yourselves accordingly.”

 

There was a silence between the group as they stared at her like she was speaking in a foreign language. Some showed a sense of defiance making Minah sigh and rolled her eyes before getting to her work. She paused when an all too familiar scent hovered behind her, placing a small cup beside her laptop. Minah could feel her cheeks involuntarily heat up and hoped to god that it wasn’t very apparent.

 

“Espresso.I’m assuming you’re coming from practice.” he said nonchalantly looking over the rest of the group. Minah was hyper aware of how everyone was looking at Taekwoon giving her a cup of coffee “are you guys not working?” he asked the rest who seemed to snap back to reality and quickly get down to making calls. 

 

“Taekwoon,” Doojun began, hovering close to Taekwoon, before exchanging a look with Minhyuk “remember that chick from the party at Jaehyun’s place? Been hounding me for your number after that night.”

 

“It’s odd when you say hounding. Either way, I’m currently not interested in anything.” Taekwoon replied, looking over the database on one of the laptops.

 

“What, has Kang’s course killed your libido? Don’t tell me you’re turning into one of them” Doojun pointed his thumb at Minah while gaping at Taekwoon, horrified. Taekwoon frowned.

 

“If by that you mean that he’s getting academically inclined, then that is definitely the case. Taekwoon is turning into an all-rounder, intelligent on and off the field.” Minah replied, eyes still fixed on the screen as she put the finishing touches on her email. 

 

“I really didn’t ask you…” Doojun began as Taekwoon glared at him, gripping his arm.

 

“Enough Doojun.” 

 

“See, instead of surreptitiously pointing and assessing whether I’m worthy of being around your captain, you could just tell me to my face that you’d rather have him satisfying his libido with anyone who would have him than simply spending time with me to get through his course. Sorry I don’t meet your beauty standards, unfortunately for you I’m not a dimwit who misses your gorilla signals. Give him a break, let him make decisions about his friends on his own.I think he’s fucking smart enough to do that.” Minah stood up, a little shorter than Doojun as she glared at him and Taekwoon could see Doojun physically shrink as he stepped away from her.

 

“Minah,” Taekwoon began as she turned to him, slightly red in the face.

 

“Sorry, I’m just sick of people acting like the only thing you live for is sports and sex. I’m sure there’s more substance to you than that. Anyway, those were my two cents, I’ve shared the doc with the email with you. If you need me to send them out, I can do that as well.”  

 

“Fucking hell she’s scary.” Minhyuk mumbled as Taekwoon placated Minah and sat down beside her to go through the email. 

 

“Is it odd that I find it a wee bit attractive?” Jaemin, a first year student seated beside him asked.

 

“It just means you’re fucked in the head. Taekwoon needs more...enticement, he’ll nail some chick who comes in during or after the fest, you’ll see. He won't last long on this friendship bullshit. Especially when it looks like that and is boring as hell.”

 

* * *

 

 

“Taekwoon, you need to focus. We need to get these presentations done and you need to do your damn part.” Haneul grumbled glared at Minah who sheepishly smiled. Kang’s classes always involved one group presentation and Taekwoon had begged Minah and Haneul to team up with him so he wouldn’t royally be screwed.

 

Except when they actually got down to working, he seemed terribly distracted, causing a great deal of aggravation for his teammates.

 

“Sorry, I woke up late and missed breakfast and now the whole day is messed up for me.” he grumbled, truly trying to look back at the points he had come for a comparative analysis of Persian and Greek myths. Minah let out a snort, momentarily distracting him again. 

 

“I’ll wake you up in time for breakfast since your soccer team practices are going on till late night. But you really need to focus right now. Your main task is to summarize and smile. Kang likes your pretty face now that you’re speaking up in class. We’ll use it to our advantage.”

 

“Are you objectifying me?” Taekwoon narrowed his eyes.

 

“Yes, for a reasonable group grade. Which you will share. Plus take the compliment, I’m calling you attractive.” Minah smiled so brightly at him that he was momentarily stumped.  He sighed turning back to the screen, his stomach rumbling as he scanned the document shared between the three of them. He couldn’t wait for this course to end, but he wasn’t so sure when Minah grinned at him, nudging him as she placed a meme about Zeus in the powerpoint presentation. 

 

The two joined their chairs when they switched to his laptop (clearly the superior one) to finalize the presentation details. She leaned her head against his shoulder comfortably so Haneul could peer at the screen from behind. 

 

“Shift the picture to the left.” Haneul nodded as Taekwoon dutifully moved the image destroying the layout in the process.

 

“Fuck this.” he grumbled as Minah chuckled and he could feel the movement against him. He tried once again succeeding after several tries. Minah cheered, shifting to stand.

 

“Finally, I have two shifts at the registrations desk today. I thought I’d never make it.”  she said, patting Haneul’s back, looking at Taekwoon. Joonmyeon had come up with the idea of the college holding a concert to draw attention to the university as a means of promoting the college fest. Which meant that there would be a registration desk and the team needed to man it. Sooyeon had broken up the concert hours into shifts so the team could get work done while enjoying the concert as well. Joonmyeon and Hakyeon had gotten a popular indie group to play for a reasonable price and tickets were being circulated around the city as well as within the campus.

 

“Oh yeah, fuck, I was going to go check out the food stalls too. Heard that Myun managed to get that gourmet pizza dude.” Taekwoon remembered absently as Haneul nodded.

 

“My shift is first, then I’m going to hit the food stalls. Need to get my face in place. ” she said, stretching as she stood up and headed out of the library.

 

“I guess we’re mostly done here, I’m going to head to the desk and see if they need any help there. I’ll see you around then?” Minah patted Taekwoon’s shoulder.

 

“Yeah, I’ll hit the gym, take a shower and head for the concert. Text me when it begins, or if you need pizza during your shift. When do you get done though?” he replied, yawning and shutting his own laptop.  Minah smiled, ruffling his hair.

 

“Thank you, I’d appreciate that, I should be done at around 8 or 8:15.” she smiled, waiting for Taekwoon to pack his stuff up to leave. They parted at the entrance of the library as Minah hurried to the concert location. There wasn’t very much to be done, posters needed to be put up and the team was given a general briefing of what they needed to be selling to the visitors. She ended up being trapped there for the first shift, her loose t-shirt and jeans and haggard face attracting zero registrations.

 

Minah hurried back to the room noting the open windows of the gym on the way. Minah’s eyes quickly took in the vision of  Taekwoon lifting weights, mind focused entirely on his posture, his muscular arms flexing making her her mouth go slightly dry. 

 

Minah realized she was gaping and shook her head and hurried back to the room. On entering, she took a deep breath and sat down on her bed, picking up her phone to take a look at the time. Maybe she could conduct a social experiment, a simple one with very known results. She grinned, standing up whilst stripping her shirt off and stepping into the bathroom.

 

Minah stood at the registrations desk with a smile, she’d gotten eight registrations so far and she had to marvel at the magic of a little red lipstick and a tight black t-shirt. But she could feel herself getting increasingly uncomfortable when one particular man got increasingly persistent.

 

“You never told me there was a b-boying event! Why didn’t you tell me?” he rambled on, it was his second time by the desk and Minah was now simply getting creeped out.

 

“It’ll all on the brochure, I couldn’t explain all forty events to you.” she explained “but if you sign up on the sign up sheet there, you’ll be emailed all the details.”

 

“Why don’t you give me your number?” he smirked as Minah cringed, but tried to keep a smile on.

 

“I could give you the registrations number, if you wish.”

“Is that yours?”

“Excuse me,” Taekwoon seemed to loom over the man as he nudged past him, meeting Minah’s eyes to check if she’s alright “ Minah it’s 8:30, let’s get some pizza.” as Minah sighed in relief as she thrust a registrations card into the man’s hands before hurrying to Taekwoon. He squinted at her in the dim light, pausing as he tried to process the image. 

“You’re wearing makeup,” Taekwoon said, brushing a stray strand off her forehead making Minah freeze for a second “it’s nice.”

“Y-Yeah?” she stuttered as Taekwoon nodded.

“Yeah, looks nice.” 

“Pizza?” she asked quickly trying to divert the topic as Taekwoon nodded.

“Yeah, sounds good. Wanna stay through the rest of the concert?” he asked, placing a hand on the small of her back to lead her away from the crowd and  towards the concert area. 

“Mhmm, but not to late. Need to wake you up for breakfast.” she grinned as Taekwoon grinned back at her.

 

* * *

 

Minah discovered that Taekwoon sounded bloody cute when he was half awake, slurring as he picked up her call, mumbling something incoherently. She had to prevent herself from melting to his pleas to let him sleep just a little longer. It was odd to hear someone who had always been an image of macho masculinity be so...adorably whiny. She steeled herself, breathing out.

 

“Taekwoon, breakfast.”

 

“Hmmmm.” he mumbled into the phone. Minah could feel the strong urge to coo bubble up her throat.

 

“Up, now.”

 

“I’ll see you in ten.” he whined, audibly rolling off the bed and falling with a loud ‘oof’.

 

“I made coffee for you, come before it gets cold.” she chuckled into the device as he mumbled something about blessing and ending the call. Soon enough Minah saw him dragging his feet into the dining hall, still rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. For someone who had just woken up, Minah had to admit he looked quite nice (to say the least). He smiled when he spotted her, momentarily causing her brain to shut, picking up a full set breakfast before joining her.

 

“Hey.” she said, pushing him a mug of coffee whilst chewing on her toast “basketball practice yesterday?”

 

“Soccer and basketball. Need to hit the gym today too.” Taekwoon replied, taking a sip of his coffee as a comfortable silence took over the largely empty space. Taekwoon gazed at Minah thoughtfully before shedding his hoodie, he had expected the morning to be cooler, but it was warm and sunny. The sunlight seemed to catch the high points of her face just right, falling like drops of light on her eyelashes as she absently looked out of the large window of the dining hall. Probably thinking of how long her day was, or whether her spot in the library had been taken by someone else (probably not, it was too early in the semester). There was something oddly riveting about the view that it baffled Taekwoon. It was odd how the two of them, so different in terms of social circles had become oddly close. 

 

Minah eyed Taekwoon, trying very hard not to think of how attractive she found him. This was definitely not what she was expecting, Taekwoon was a distant dream and finding him attractive was only the beginning of painful trouble because there was no way mutual attraction was even possible. She looked back out of the window, trying to think of something that would get the thoughts out of her mind. 

Chewing thoughtfully, he opened his mouth to address something he had been wanting to talk to Minah about for quite a while now. There was something about her presence which made him feel like he could tell her this oddly personal fact.

 

“Minah,” he had her attention, making her meet his gaze, a warm sensation filling his chest “I have an odd question.”

 

“Yeah?” she asked, sitting straight, indicating that she was listening and taking him seriously, something that Taekwoon found rather comforting.

 

“Is it… odd that I’ve never really been attracted to anyone? Does that make me weird?”

Minah frowned, pursing her lips. This wasn’t really something she expected him to say, but she was glad he trusted her enough to tell her about it.

 

“No… I don’t think it’s odd.” she said, still frowning. With Taekwoon’s reputation of having a strong libido, this wasn’t really what she was expecting him to ask her.

 

“I mean...I’ve never really thought of relationships beyond...you know, sex. There’s never been emotions involved to the extent that I want to be with someone...this whole crush thing just goes over my head and you know, people just think it’s weird.” he trailed off, trying to collect his thoughts, pausing breifly when Minah placed her hand on his.

 

“There’s absolutely nothing weird about it. There’s nothing weird about you. Some people just go on in life not being attracted to other people and that’s okay. Life’s not a checklist where you tick these kinds of stuff off. If it’s meant to happen, it will. You have your family and friends who are all great relationships to have if you ask me. Your emotional needs have been fulfilled. Plus you have me, which is pretty awesome in itself.” she grinned, trying to lighten the situation.

 

“How do you know when you’re attracted to someone?” Taekwoon asked, making Minah’s eye narrow, deep in thought.

 

“I suppose it's different for everyone...for me...they make me really happy and I feel safe around them, and I just want to be with them, spend time with them. I think they’re adorable with all their quirks and oddities. Occasionally I do want to kiss them.” she chuckled “but, as my mum said, you’ll just know when you find them.”

 

Taekwoon found himself smiling at her, Minah was endearing. It was always a sense of ease and comfort. He enjoyed that about their dynamic. He loved spending time with Minah, she often knew the right thing to say at the right times. Taekwoon reached across to poke her nose with a soft smile and Minah found herself melting.

 

Yet Minah found herself crying into her pillow that night. She couldn’t like Taekwoon. It was out of the question. Taekwoon was a good sweet man, but with his reputation and his confession of his inability to find someone attractive, it would only lead to heartbreak.


	3. Three

“Why are you running back and forth for the registrations sheets?” Taekwoon asked as Minah stood across him with a tired smile “I thought I’d asked Jaemin to run across to you with those?”  

 

“Never turned up,” Minah sighed, pushing her hair back “plus the sheet are right here.” she sighed picking the sheet up. The fest was finally in full swing even though Minah and Taekwoon had to start work a week earlier since there were several qualifying matches that needed to be played. The soccer matches were midway and the afternoon sun was beating down on the field. Minah had decided that the best course of action was to keep things the way they were, to do nothing to push Taekwoon away - no she valued him too much for that. She’d get over the attraction soon enough, she was certain.

 

“I’m going to murder them.” Taekwoon grumbled, it was close to impossible for him to leave the field since he was in charge, but sending his teammates to the registrations desk instead of making Minah run back and forth was the most reasonable solution he could come up with. Especially when every other team seemed to be doing the same. Minah sighed, the sound of Taekwoon’s walkie-talkie crackled in the background and the two teams that were to play were on a half time break. She fanned herself with the papers covered in Minhyuk and Taekwoon’s chicken scrawl.

 

“It’s chill, I have my first match in a bit, so I’m going to head to the sports office to change. I’ll hand these over to Sooyeon on the way.”

 

“When is your match? I’ll come.” Taekwoon asked, picking his phone up to look at the time.

 

“You needn’t! It’s not a big deal, you have to handle this as well.” Minah shook her head making Taekwoon glare at her.

 

“You’ve come for all my matches, the least I can do is come cheer you for yours. Thanks to all my practice I’ve never got to see you play,” Taekwoon frowned “you’d better be there for the swimming event tomorrow, Doojun randomly signed me up for it.” 

 

“He beat you to it. Hakyeon told him I’m very organized so he’s put me in charge of taking the on spot registrations at the swimming event.”

 

“You’re going to be exhausted! What about your writing event?” Taekwoon gaped at Minah. She looked worn out in her fest t-shirt and faded jeans but she smiled and shot him a peace sign. Taekwoon gaped at her.

 

“I signed up for this, so I’ll get it done. Plus Haneul pitched in to help me out, so I’ll manage. My match is in about half an hour, so I’d better head over now and warm up.”  

 

“I’ll see you there.” he called to her figure as she left. Almost like on cue, Minhyuk appeared with his arm wrapped around fresher who Taekwoon had seen at several parties but never had gotten the name of. She was pretty for certain, probably why Taekwoon remembered her face, petite with curves in the right places. She had a pretty smile too.

 

“Hyori wanted to hang here,” Minhyuk, grinned noting how Taekwoon’s eyes fixed themselves on her “if that’s alright.”

 

‘Sure, why not. Can you hold down the fort? I’m taking a break.” Taekwoon looked back at his phone to check the time. He could grab a bite and head down to the tennis court right after that. He’d been stuck in the little stall pitched for the soccer management team. His own match was later in the evening, and he really needed the break. 

 

“Yeah,” Minhyuk frowned “why not. Do you think you could get me a wrap from the food stalls when you come back?”

 

“I’m actually heading to the tennis courts. Have a match to watch,” Taekwoon replied, picking his bag up.

 

“Aren’t the women’s matches going on now?” Minhyuk frowned again, taking the seat Taekwoon had vacated. He didn’t know anyone who was playing that could possibly cause Taekwoon to get up and watch. Secondly he never knew that Taekwoon even had an interest in tennis. He was even more confused when Taekwoon shot him a look like the he was stating the obvious.

 

“Yeah, Minah is playing.”

 

Taekwoon lumbered out of the stall into the heat. The actual walk to the food stalls wasn’t long, but the heat made his clothes stick to his skin and he was thankful that none of his matches were scheduled for the afternoon (perks of being the home team, he supposed). He winced in pity at the thought of Minah’s match being bang in the afternoon. He noted a figure running back and forth by the side of the tennis court which was adjacent to the soccer field. There was barely anybody by the court, besides the players and the umpires that the tennis organizing committee had called in. He pursed his lips, that was obviously a very disappointing turnout in terms of crowd. Taking another glance at the court, he hurried to the food stalls.

 

Minah was agile on court, Taekwoon had to give her that. She had mentioned that she had played more on a clay court than the synthetic court that the university provided its students.This was like seeing an entirely different side of Minah, her broad shoulders pulled back as she swung her racket, long muscular legs sprinting to keep up with the game. There was an smile that played on her lips as she played, lower lips occasionally caught between her teeth as she focused. There was something oddly riveting about her movements on the court that helped Taekwoon forget the initial surprise of seeing her wearing shorts, bereft of her spectacles which had always been an integral part of her appearance. He hadn’t missed Minah’s eyes landing on his briefly before the match as she mouthed a “thank you” to him.

 

Sweat trickled down her temple as she exhaled heavily, her face placid as she stood at the baseline, bouncing on her toes, the muscles of her legs flexing ever so slightly as she waited for her opponent to serve. Taekwoon noticed how her face shifted from placid to pure aggression when her racket slammed against the incoming ball, smashing it down into the opponent’s court in an all-kill move to win the point. The game was neck to neck and Taekwoon could tell that both players were tiring with the sun beating down heavily on them. Minah was resorting to single powerful shots to end the game, her opponent forced her to run more to tire her out. Taekwoon could feel himself flush in the heat as his eyes followed the game. This side of Minah was definitely as praiseworthy as the other - it held the same dedication and passion that Taekwoon admired about her.

 

Even when she lost by a point, he noted how she cheerfully congratulated her opponent before hurrying out of the court to drop herself heavily beside him and rasp out his name in a voice that made goosebumps rise on his skin. Kim Minah had a birth mark on the side of her thigh, he noted as she nudged at him.

 

“Thanks for coming, sorry I didn’t make it to the next round,” she exhaled heavily, taking a sip of water. Taekwoon leaned back on the rickety bench he had taken a seat on. When she had first seen him by the court, her heart had stopped momentarily. She hadn’t actually expected him to leave his stuff to come and watch her, especially with the soccer matches being in full swing. No one really came for tennis matches let alone women’s tennis matches, so she wasn’t really expecting much. Sometimes she wondered why Taekwoon was nice.

 

“You were really good out there,” he said, eyes still fixed on the little black spot on the side of her thigh, it was an odd fixation, but for some reason he couldn’t take his eyes off it “it was a close match, I don’t know how you played in this heat.”

 

“Yeah,” Minah sighed, “I must look disgusting right now.”

 

“You look nice, you always do. Just a little more sweat. Sign of hard work.”  he replied, shifting his gaze to her face. Clear as the summer sky, she was glowing in the heat, the sheen of sweat which had hastily been wiped off with a towel resurfacing with the stray strands of hair curling upwards haphazardly. 

 

“There’s something called being too nice and lying Jung Taekwoon,” she grinned, nudging him before draping her towel over her head. “Well, at least this means I have more time to run around for registrations and the writing event. I’m going to give you a sweaty side hug as thanks for coming and head for a shower.” she declared as Taekwoon snorted in disbelief, feeling her press against his side, her arms wrapping around him briefly. She was warm, maybe a little too much, it’s not uncomfortable - it lasts only for a few moments and Taekwoon can smell the diminished deodorant with the sweat but it doesn’t bother him at all. 

 

“Thank you, seriously, thanks for coming.” she said with sincerity which makes him smile.

 

“Wouldn’t have missed it for anything, Minah,” he said, patting the side of her face through the towel “go take a shower now. I’m heading to the field.”

 

“I’ll see you for your match then.” Minah flushed, standing up. She waved, swinging her racket over her shoulder and heading to the interiors of the campus.  Taekwoon looked at her figure before standing up and stretching. 

 

“Taekwoon,” he heard someone call, he looked up to see the same girl from the soccer stall waving to him, Hyori if he remembered correctly “Minhyuk’s phone died, he’s trying to contact you to come to the stall, the next match is starting.” 

 

Taekwoon nodded, dazed by the heat “yeah, I’ll be right there.”

* * *

Taekwoon picked up his phone as it rang, noting that the caller id flashed with Minah’s name. He was still at the soccer stall, going over the receipts, double checking the scoresheets.  He’d seen her at his match, shooting him two thumbs ups before entering the stands, looking completely tuckered out. 

 

“Hey, I’m just coming over with the sheets,” he said softly, the field was now empty of the roaring crowd, affording him the gift of silence. He could hear the crickets in the background, Minah’s tired voice echoed and crackled over the line.

 

“Oh damn, I thought you’d gone to your room. I was hoping you’d have some sort of paracetamol.” she sighed. He could hear the buzz of the registrations desk behind her as he frowned.

 

“Paracetamol? Are you in pain?” 

 

“Down with a bit of a fever…” she said softly “probably just a little overworked, that’s all.” 

Taekwoon shot up from his seat “do you need me to go to the infirmary and get it?”

 

“Fuck it, the infirmary is across campus. I’ll manage till this meeting in done and go back to the room and check to see if Haneul had any.” Minah shook her head, even though she was certain he couldn’t see her. Taekwoon could hear Haneul fretting the background now, trying to coax Minah to get back to the room while handling a person who was demanding food coupons which the registrations desk did not have.

 

“I’m coming there right now.” 

 

“It’s fine…”

 

“No. I’m coming there.”

 

“Taek…”

 

“You’re an idiot you know that? I’m coming there, so hush,” Taekwoon said firmly, putting an end to all argument and ending the call before hastily standing up to spot Hyori wandering by the stall. He frowned, Minhyuk had left to help with the fashion show set up “uh,” he called for her attention “if you’re looking for Minhyuk, he’s gone to Cho P.A. hall to help with something.”

 

“No,” she began hesitantly “ I was actually here for you...you were really good at the soccer match,” she said, approaching “it was kinda hot.”

 

“If you’re speaking about the weather, I agree. It’s unnaturally humid today.” Taekwoon replied breezily, picking up the sheets of paper on the table. Hyori’s hand came to cover his.

 

“No, I was talking about you.”

 

“Never really had my skills described as ‘hot’, but thank you for the compliment,” Taekwoon sighed out, tugging his hand away from her before running his fingers through his hair. This was always the same, the seduction, the compliments, and eventually the mindless sex.  Hyori was attractive for certain, but he really did have extremely pressing matters in his hands “I have to be somewhere right now.”

 

“What the fuck…” Hyori gaped at Taekwoon as he brushed past her, half sprinting towards the registrations desk. 

 

He found Minah sitting at the desk, dazed as he approached “you are a fucking idiot,” he grumbled, dumping the papers on the table “a giant, fucking idiot.”

 

“Glad someone agrees with me,” Haneul glared at Minah “ I made sure she ate, but she’s not willing to miss the GBM because her event is tomorrow.”

 

“It’s in like ten minutes okay? I’ll live,” Minah rolled her eyes as Taekwoon stood in front of her and glared.  Joonmyeon’s announcement for the GBM could be heard over the speakers and Taekwoon couldn’t be more thankful. Holding his hand out to her, he pulled her to her feet making her lean heavily against him as he lead her to the little stage which had been constructed for the prize distribution ceremony. Haneul followed silently, eyeing Taekwoon and Minah wondering how painful this could possibly be for Minah. She’d seen Minah cry more than once about it, but it felt cruel to break up the friendship the two had developed.

 

Taekwoon had his arm around Minah’s shoulder, as he held her up, looking straight at Joonmyeon before looking down at Minah, comfortingly rubbing circles on her skin through the fabric “you did well today.” he mumbled, as she pressed closer, exhausted. 

 

“I’ll feel better tomorrow.” she sighed, feeling him squeeze her closer. The day had worn off the deodorant she was so familiar with but Taekwoon smelled like comfort - his fresh soft cotton t shirt which he had switched to after his match, the cold zipper of the hoodie he had thrown on pressed against her cheek. This was painfully close, but she was too exhausted to care. Her eyes fluttered towards  Joonmyeon as he cleared his throat but his words ran together, she tried to register what he was saying, but it made little to no sense. 

 

She let Taekwoon walk her back to her block. Haneul had been held back by Sooyeon and the finances team to help tally the money collected. She directed Minah to take a tablet and get some sleep.

 

“She’ll do it if you ask her, ” Haneul nudged Taekwoon, making him blink and point at himself “yeah you, she thinks you’re like a cute animal or something, just make puppy eyes at her.” she grinned as Taekwoon rolled his eyes, leading Minah away. 

 

“Promise you’ll take the tablet?” he said, he could feel her body burning in his arms now.

“Yes, Taekwoonie, I will text you when I do,” she replied affectionately smiling as Taekwoon could feel his heart melt just a little.

“And will sleep before 2 AM?”

“Yes, Taekwoonie”

“And not wake up before 8:30 AM?”

“We’ll see about that...swimming…”

“We’ll find someone to replace you for the swimming registrations.”

“I want to come for you. So ha,” Minah replied sleepily as they reached her block.

“You really needn’t…” Taekwoon began, warmth spreading as she hugged him.

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world Taekwoon. Thank you.” Minah smiled weakly, stumbling up the steps of her block.

* * *

“I’ll handle the swimming registrations today,” Sooyeon held Minah by the shoulders as she entered the registrations stall. 

 

“But…” Minah began, only to have Sooyeon shake her head. After the medicine and a night’s rest, she was perfectly fine. But Sooyeon was adamant.

 

“You can set up your event in advance, I promise I won’t trouble you as much today!” Sooyeon looked down guiltily. Haneul had given her an earful and Sooyeon had felt terrible because the fest had bogged her down so much that it was impossible for her to even make sure her friends and team were okay. 

 

“My event isn’t till later in the evening, the judge will come in in the afternoon and my team has most of it handled because we decided not to go with an actual set up. Most of it of it will be projected onto the classroom screen,” Minah shrugged, planning to head to the pool anyway since Taekwoon had asked her to turn up. Although he had expressly messaged her to take a break and sleep in late. She blankly nodded to Sooyeon, turning to walk down the path to the pool in the university campus. 

 

It was too early in the morning to expect too much activity in the morning, so Minah didn’t have to deal with as much social interaction on the way. Haneul was there, her shift starting in the afternoon and her friendship with Taekwoon and the fact that Wonshik was umpiring prompted her to turn up as well. Minah looked around, understanding why the rest of the campus was relatively empty - most of it was by the pool waiting for the swimming tournament to start. Taking a seat beside Haneul, she watched the swim team warming up in the pool. 

 

“All this water makes me want to pee.” 

 

“Then go won’t you,” Haneul chuckled as Minah stood up and hurried into the ladies changing room.

 

Taekwoon emerged from the pool, panting as he slipped the swimming cap off his head, and wrapped himself in the towel Doojun was holding for him. His warm up wasn’t particularly extensive since his heat wasn’t in a while, but it had been a while since he’d been in the water. He spotted Haneul seated with Wonshik on one of the benches by the poolside, walking over to them, he took a seat as he slipped his hoodie on. He frowned, noting Minah’s entry.

 

“Why are you here? I told you to sleep!” he grumbled on her approach.

 

“You’re in my spot,” Minah deadpanned, noting the way Taekwoon’s hair stuck to his forehead, a stray trickle of water sliding down his temple. He slapped his thigh.

“You can sit on my lap if you want because the bench is wet now.”

 

“So are your shorts, fool!” Minah rolled her eyes.

 

“They’re relatively drier,” Taekwoon deadpanned as Haneul and Wonshik looked at the two, amused.

 

“To prevent bloodshed, I will sacrifice my seat. Also Doojun is calling the umpires, so I will see you guys in a bit!” Wonshik declared, pecking Haneul on the cheek before standing up. Minah glared at Taekwoon before taking the seat beside a very amused Haneul.

 

“What did Wonshik mean by bloodshed?” Taekwoon mumbled out loud, causing Haneul to hold back her laughter.

 

“Either Minah and you killing each other, or one of your weirdo fangirls launching themselves on Minah and being taken down by her anyway,” she shrugged as Taekwoon shook his head. Crossing his arms again before turning to watch the first heat. Doojun ran over to the bench.

 

“We need a extra umpire, Haneul, do you think you can do it for us?” he panted, holding out a stopwatch to her. Haneul nodded, standing up and joining Wonshik at the end of the pool nudging at him playfully. Taekwoon looked at Minah who was looking at the registrations desk. The players had crowded around the small desk at which Sooyeon sat almost like bees around a hive. He reached out to touch Minah’s hand resting on the bench, her eyes shot up to meet his gaze.

“How are you feeling?”

 

“Fine.”

 

“Lies. I’m going to tail you all day.”

 

“Don’t you have your basketball final today?” she quirked her eyebrow at him.

 

“Except when I’m playing,” he amended.

 

“I have all afternoon since we got knocked out of the soccer matches yesterday,” Taekwoon grinned, as Minah sighed.

 

“What about managing the matches?” 

 

“Minhyuk wants to handle it, he wants to head the soccer management team next year, so I thought why not? I’ll finally get the afternoon off to see what’s happening around the fest. Which includes making sure that the creative writing head doesn’t die.”

 

“I’m really fine…” Minah trailed off when the whistle blew and the first heat began and ended before she could even blink. The swimmers began crowding around the registration table for their timings. Minah could tell that Sooyeon was getting overwhelmed by the umpires and swimmers closing in around her table. Sighing she stood up and walked over the few steps to the table feeling as overwhelmed as Sooyeon by the sheer number of people crowded around the table.

 

“Alright,” she called in a loud clear voice “only umpires are allowed at the table, if the players or coaches come near the table after their heat...”

 

“But your umpire’s timing is wrong! Look I have my stop watch!” one of the swim coaches interrupted, making Minah turn around and glare at him.

 

“Umpires’ decisions are final. That was mentioned in the rules. Now, if any of the players or coaches approach this desk for anything other than registration, will be disqualified with no refund on their registration money.” 

 

Sooyeon looked visibly relieved, as Minah patted her back, well-aware of how this fest was really taking a toll on Sooyeon as well.

 

“Want me to sit here with you?” 

 

“Yeah, please. Didn’t expect this to get so disorganized. Fucking Doojun.” Sooyeon grumbled, as Minah dragged a chair to Sooyeon, shooting Taekwoon an apologetic smile. He simply shook his head, his heat was next anyway. He approached the desk when they called his name for 100 meters freestyle, handing in his registration form to Sooyeon, before shedding his hoodie and handing it to Minah who averted her eyes as quickly as possible, taking deep breath and looking up at his face with a smile.

 

“All the best!”

 

He smiled back at her, slipping his swimming cap on and sliding his goggles into place, Minah glanced at him. He had long limbs, his muscles stretched out and curved beautifully, rippling as he stretched. Minah was certain that Taekwoon looked like a piece of art with a pair of swimming goggles right then and was somewhere between proud and flustered to be his friend. She shifted her gaze again to the registration sheets, taking a deep breath and listing out the names on the sheet for Sooyeon to double check.

 

Her eyes were fixed on his figure as it dove into the cool blue waters the moment the whistle blew, speeding forth leaving her in awe of how dynamic he was in the water. The round was too short, as he placed first in the round and he returned with a towel hanging around his neck and a grin on his face to retrieve his hoodie.

 

“You were awesome! I’ve never seen anything like it! It was so cool!” Minah exclaimed, causing heat to shoot up his cheeks, compliments flustering him and no alcohol to help him endure it.

 

“I’m hungry,” he grumbled, making her laugh.

 

“You’re in the relay too,” Sooyeon interrupted, making Taekwoon curse, it meant more waiting now.

 

“I’ll try getting you bumped up. Depends on what I get in return,” Minah shot him an evil grin. 

 

“My endless gratitude?” Taekwoon supplied helpfully as Minah made a face “uh, I’ll take you out to dinner!” he nodded as Sooyeon shot Minah another look as the latter’s jaw dropped momentarily.

 

“Uh, sure. Sounds good. Sooyeon, can we…”

 

“Your team will go first,” Sooyeon gave Minah a wicked look “then you guys can head for breakfast.”

 

“Awesome! Fantastic!” Taekwoon grinned back at the two before heading over to his relay team to convey the news.

 

“So…” Sooyeon began and Minah shook her head.

 

“It’s not what you think it is. I promise.” 

 

* * *

“I want to kiss her Hongbin,” Taekwoon sighed, leaning back on his chair as Hongbin clicked away at the new gaming mouse he had won at the fest. The last day of the fest had been eventful with the basketball team winning the tournament, Minah’s writing event being a success and the stress of the fest finally winding down. Taekwoon could remember the closing ceremony, where he stood with an exhausted Minah, holding her in his arms as they cheered for everyone who went on stage. He felt a surge of affection when he felt her hug him before looking up at him with a smile as she said.

 

“Thank you for helping me out. You did well. I’m so proud of you!”

 

Which had led him to this position, sitting with his legs stretched out in the library next to Hongbin, wondering what to make of the feelings he was feeling. Not much could be done, as the week that followed the fest brought in an entirely different type of trouble - the fest had caused a break in academics which had lead to the professors to pile up work on the students to make up for what they had missed. 

 

Which meant that Kang was really trying to kill her students. 

 

“You want to kiss Kang?” Hongbin asked, mind still on his game, the actual thought of it not striking him odd. He paused, eyes narrowing as he processed the statement before spinning to look at Taekwoon “you want to kiss Kang?!”

 

“What the fuck is wrong with you Hongbin?” Taekwoon squinted at him “I was talking about Minah.”

 

“How was I supposed to know, all this while you’ve been whining about Kang’s readings and I don’t understand this odd sexual thing people have for teachers” Hongbin shrugged “so you want to kiss Minah then. Right. Okay. So why are you telling me this again?”

 

“I don’t know what to do!” Taekwoon glared at Hongbin who looked back at him blankly.

 

“Uh…see, I don’t know what advice to give you other than - don’t be shady and force it on her.=,” he pointed at Taekwoon and nodded. Taekwoon reeled back, offended.

 

“Excuse me. I would never do that to her! Or anyone! Do you not have any better advice on the matters of the heart?!”

 

Hongbin paused his clicking, before pointing at himself, raising his eyebrow “Taekwoon, are you seriously asking me to give you sexual and romantic advice?”

 

“Why not? You have good observation skills, even if you’re not interested in either,” Taekwoon reasoned, nodding.

 

“This is like asking a blind man to lead another blind man,” Hongbin rolled his eyes “both of us are equally bad at this, so I’m going to go with whatever makes most logical sense. Hmmm, tell her you want to kiss her.”

 

“That sounds like bad advice…” Taekwoon pursed his lips, stretching in his seat, getting a look at Minah resting her chin on top of Sanghyuk’s head as she peered at his screen. They had been working on a film script together for their Adaptations course and the way she was smiling at Sanghyuk made Taekwoon’s insides churn. It wasn’t anger he was feeling but somewhere in his insides, he could feel how heavy his heart was getting.

 

“Do you trust her?” Hongbin cut through Taekwoon’s melancholy.

 

“Of course,” Taekwoon trusted Minah with his soul, he felt comfortable and safe around her to do and say whatever he wanted without fearing judgement.

 

“Tell her then. Because you can trust her to still be true to you whatever the reaction is.”

* * *

 

 

“I can’t believe we’re done with so much of the paper,” Minah sighed, the amount of caffeine coursing through their veins making it close to impossible to sleep. They’d spent the Sunday on campus, working together to finish the final paper for Kang’s class. Taekwoon had steadily received Bs through his papers and was hoping for the same with his final paper. 

 

“I can’t think anymore,” he groaned, leaning against her seat lazily “can we just watch a movie instead?”

“God, that sounds like a good idea,” Minah sighed, leaning back. Taekwoon could feel how warm she was against his skin “what do you want to watch because I’ve got zero movies on my laptop.”

 

“I’ve got a couple. I think you might enjoy Watchmen,” Taekwoon replied, reaching for his laptop, fingers quickly shifting to find the movie.

 

“DC? Aww no fun,” Minah teased. 

 

“Yeah, you’d told me you’d watched the Avengers a million times and that’s the only fun movie I have in here. I doubt you’d want to sit through Les Miserables,” he smirked as she swatted at him.

 

“No, I do not,” she grumbled, leaning against his shoulder as the sound of the audio slowly crept up and the images began to fill the screen.

 

“HI I’M SORRY TO INTERRUPT!” Jaehwan’s voice boomed through the library, causing Minah and Taekwoon to jolt.

 

“Fucking hell Jaehwan,” Minah grumbled “what are you doing on campus on a Sunday?!”

 

“Telling people that we’re having a pet kissing booth the day after tomorrow as promotion for the intra college fest.”

 

“Pet kissing booth?” Taekwoon echoed incredulously. Jaehwan puffed his chest up proudly; whatever bizarre idea it was, it was clearly his brain-child, what with him being a major member of the cultural committee of the University council which arranged for the intra college fest at the University. 

 

“Yes! We’re bringing in animals from a shelter for the students to cuddle and love. But the entry fee is to pay for the cuddles. We’re raising money for the shelter that way and the animals get a lot of love. It’s a win-win situation if you ask me.” Jaehwan nodded.

 

“That sounds…” Taekwoon began.

 

“Fantastic, sign me up. I want to go first!” Minah declared, already fishing for her wallet. Taekwoon looked at her, amused. They shared a love for animals, no matter what species and they way her eyes lit up at the idea of spending time with them was endearing. 

 

“Aren’t you going to ask Taekwoon?” Minah asked Jaehwan and Taekwoon couldn’t help but just admire the way her mouth moved and how every word that came out of it made him impossibly happy even if it wasn’t about him. 

 

“I figured you’d drag him along or something. Either way, I’m going to find more people to come, enjoy your super dark movie!” Jaehwan peered at the frozen screen to see the bloody Watchmen pin on the dark muddy road. He made his way out, leaving the two in the silence of the private room in the library as Taekwoon reached to unpause the movie. 

“There are some scenes which may...be disturbing,” Taekwoon warned, pulling her chair closer to him. 

 

“I’ll be fine. I have you around. I feel safe around you.”

  
Taekwoon smiled when he felt her caress the side of his face briefly. He could feel his heart swelling with a feeling so much deeper than affection. This, this moment was something he could feel like he could freeze and store in a time capsule. A moment of comfort and utter vulnerability. A moment where he felt like he could say the thoughts that had been plaguing him for weeks.   
  


"I want to kiss you."   
  
Minah paused, this was not exactly what she had expected him to say. For a moment it felt almost like a joke, the way Haneul would say she was so happy she wanted to kiss someone. This was odd, even for Taekwoon, she tilted her head curiously, biting her lip as she did, to look at him before letting out a laugh while giving the same response she would give Haneul.

 

“Okay?”

 

Then all thought turned into static when he gently pushed back her hair and cupped her cheek, leaning down to press his lips against hers. It was everything he had imagined - soft, so soft that it made his brain buzz, almost like was finally breathing. Gentle, as he inhaled, breathing in the soft scent of her. It wasn’t vigorous like every other kiss he had ever experienced before, just pressing his lips against hers made his heart swell. He felt so satisfied, so content, he craved more of the feeling. 

 

She didn’t kiss back. 

 

The odd thought struck him somewhere at the back of his mind. Minah didn’t kiss back even the slightest. She almost seemed frozen in shock. The same thought triggered him to pull away just as quickly to look at the panicked look on her face. Taekwoon could feel his heart tighten with anxiety and entirely shatter when she stood up, frantically picking her laptop before looking at him.

 

“Taekwoon, I can’t do this,” Minah’s voice broke; she couldn’t handle a relationship without feelings, she knew that, it was wrong to even let this friendship head in that direction “ I can’t do this,” she repeated, picking her bag up and hurrying out of the library.

* * *

 

“You’re a dumb fuck you know that?”  Wonshik glared at Taekwoon who sulked unhappily over his sandwich. He had been miserable ever since the events of the previous evening and being accosted by Wonshik and Haneul at his measley attempt at lunch at the library cafe.

 

“I knew you were daft, but I didn’t think you were physically capable of making Minah breakdown to this extent,” Haneul hissed, making Taekwoon flinch.

 

“What the fuck did you want me to do?” he growled back.

 

“Not kiss her when you have zero romantic feelings for her,” Haneul declared, crossing her arms, eyes still narrowed in his general direction. Taekwoon frowned back at her, what on earth did she even mean by that?

 

“What?”

 

Wonshik sighed as Haneul huffed, “you told her yourself, Taekwoon. You told her you’ve never liked anyone!” she sighed, choosing to elaborate as the idea of what could possibly be going through Minah’s head started making sense to Taekwoon. “Minah isn’t someone...who can do physical relationships without emotional investment. She really needs to trust someone to even let them touch her, even as a friend. If she lets you touch her, it means she trusts you no end...what you did after everything you’ve said...confused her. Taekwoon, you can’t do that to her.”

 

Taekwoon opened his mouth and closed it, trying to process the information Haneul had just hit him with as Wonshik looked at the exchange uncomfortably. Taekwoon’s brain sped with several thoughts, he needed to find Minah, he needed to talk to her, he needed to tell her everything about her that was driving him insane. He hadn’t realized he had stood up till Wonshik firmly tugged him back into his seat.

 

“You will collect your thoughts and you will talk to her,” Wonshik said calmly, Taekwoon had to admire how Minah’s small circle of friends were so fiercely loyal to her. More so when Haneul’s eyes met his, angry.

 

“If you do not harbour any feelings for her. You will tell her that clearly and you will leave.”

 

“Take your time and figure your shit out…write a speech if you need to,” Wonshik began yet again as Taekwoon exhaled.

 

“Yeah.”

* * *

 

 

“Puppy kisses will make you feel better!” Sooyeon said chirpily as Haneul nodded in agreement. They had decided to drag Minah to the pet kissing booth which was located at the lawn next to the tennis courts. This gave it ample space for the large number of pets Jaehwan had spoken about. The thought of nuzzling a dog lifted Minah’s spirits briefly.

 

Except it came crashing straight down when they arrived at the lawns to see no animals. Jaehwan stood there with a giant grin on his face and dog ears. Hongbin sat on a table playing on a Nintendo Switch with rabbit ears on his head.  Sanghyuk peered over his shoulder wearing something that vaguely looked like hamster ears. Hakyeon (bereft of any strange animal ears) was chatting with a very grumpy looking Taekwoon who was wearing cat ears. Wonshik popped up from behind the standee with Jaehwan’s art-work advertising the pet kissing booth wearing floppy dog ears.

 

“Minah! You’re here! Saved you the first slot!” Jaehwan waved, causing Taekwoon’s gaze to flicker up to her. Even now, with everything going on, just seeing her there made him inexplicably ecstatic even if his stomach churned with anxiety.

 

“Jaehwan where are the animals?” Sooyeon hissed, as Jaehwan shot her a sheepish smile. 

 

“So, uh, we didn’t have the funds to bring them in today and during the fest, so we decided to raise funds by just having a regular kissing booth,” he whispered back, indicating the rest of the motley crew he had managed to put together.

 

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Sooyeon grumbled as Jaehwan put on a  bubbly sunny business smile and stepped forward to Minah.

 

“Today, your future is based on fate! You get to pick your kiss buddy!” he brandished a set of coloured strips of paper in front of Minah who glared at him.

 

“I want a refund.”

 

“No can do! Gave the money to the organization!”

 

“Refund!” Minah exclaimed “where are the puppies?!”

 

“Choose a strip! Any strip!” Jaehwan fought back, still brandishing the damn strips of paper and Minah simply wanted to knock it out of his hands. Frustration built as the strips of papers waved in front of her and she yanked at one before looking at it. Jaehwan peered at the words on the strip of paper and turned to call.

 

“Hamster?”

 

Sanghyuk’s head shot up as he looked at Minah who sighed in relief. 

 

“Hold on, I have to stamp your hand. Branding and stuff you know,” Jaehwan explained, haphazardly, reaching for the stamp-pad and stamp that lay on the table behind him. He sighed, fumbling with the new fangled stamp pad as Sooyeon and Haneul groaned and launched themselves on the man to stop him from doing anything further.

 

Taekwoon knew he needed to act now and act soon. He hurried over to Sanghyuk, not knowing what to say to the man he’d never really spoken to.

“Uh, Sanghyuk, can we switch animals?” he asked frantically, making Sanghyuk turn to him with a suspicious frown.

 

“Why?”

 

“Because I’m more like a hamster than a cat.” Taekwoon tried to lie on the spot. The thought of Sanghyuk kissing Minah made his insides roll with aversion. He knew it wasn’t his place to say anything about it, but all that could come to his mind when he thought about it was “Do. Not. Want.”

 

“Why didn’t you ask to trade earlier?” Sanghyuk questioned, now crossing his arms and Taekwoon could feel the exasperation building.

 

“Didn’t occur to me.”

 

“Why all of the sudden?” Sanghyuk blinked, arms still crossed.

 

“If the hamster isn’t coming due to Hakyeon, send the bunny rabbit!” Jaehwan called as Taekwoon turned to Hongbin who shrugged, slipping off from his seat.

 

“Trade with me, Hongbin.” 

 

“I have the same question as Sanghyuk honestly, why didn’t you ask before?” Hongbin’s sly smirk made him want to knock his pretty teeth out. But it was interrupted by Jaehwan coming over to the three.

 

“What’s going on.”

 

“Taekwoon wants to trade.”

 

“Why?” Jaehwan looked confused as Taekwoon’s patience finally cracked and the words came tumbling out like a stream. The words that caused the whole group to fall silent and all eyes to fall on him.

 

“Because I like Minah! So I want to talk to her and tell her that alright?!” This wasn’t idea. In no way was this ideal. No, he had wanted this to be a private conversation, but he couldn’t even think of the possibility of doing this later, not with how much his insides burned at the idea of someone else kissing Minah. He turned to look at her, as she gaped back at him.Taking a step forward he reached out to her.

 

“Taekwoon…” she exhaled.

 

“I just want to talk,” he said, holding his hand out. He would never do this to her in public, he knew it would make her even more uncomfortable. He was surprised when she took his hand, willingly letting him lead her away. Anything to get out of the prying eyes of the group. The only isolated space he could find was behind the sports office. They walked towards it in silence, hand in hand, interrupted only by the sound of their footsteps. Taekwoon stopped and turned to look at her. Every word he had rehearsed flew out of his mind.

 

“God, I love you.”

 

Minah could feel her heart stop briefly as she looked up at him, eyes widening at the soft look in his eyes. 

 

“I...you make me so inexplicably happy, I can’t even comprehend it. You’re so strong-willed, but you have such a tender heart. You’re the strongest woman I know, I just think of spending forever with you...all the time. You mean so much to me...and I will wait for you to be comfortable with me...god I fucked up so bad...I can’t explain myself…” he rambled as Minah could feel tears prick her eyes as she reached to grip at his hand and pull him towards her.

 

“You’re such a fool,” she whispered reaching up to caress the side of his face, the familiarity of the moment caused him to close his eyes, revelling in the feeling of her just touching him with such affection “I adore you, you dork. For someone I always thought was perceptive, you suck at understanding how much I feel for you.” 

 

Minah stood on her tiptoes, leaning up to press her lips against his briefly trying to use his love language to get her point across “I love you too” she whispered against his skin. Taekwoon could feel a surge build in him as he wrapped his arms around her waist. Pulling her closer, he rested his forehead against hers.

 

“You need to understand one thing,” he whispered, leaning his forehead against hers “I haven’t stopped wanting to kiss you since the first time...I can’t seem to have enough. May I please...kiss you again?” he breathed, making her squeak out a yes “are you sure?”

 

“Yes,” her breath intoxicated him as he leaned forward, bridging the gap between them feeling her soft lips pressing firmly against his yet again. He groaned at the sensation, his head buzzing yet again as his hands slid up her sides to drag his lips against hers revelling at the soft exhale she let out.  Taekwoon was surprised when he felt her hand sliding up his chest and tangling in hair as her lips moved in sync with his, still gentle, but insistent. 

 

He heard a squeak when his teeth nipped at her bottom lip as her fingers in his hair tightened ever so slightly. Something about all of it made Taekwoon feel a charge run through his nerves as he pressed against her with a little more urgency and his tongue dragged over the seam of her lips causing another sound to escape her. Breaking away, she inhaled deeply as Taekwoon looked at her, concerned.

 

“Too fast?”

 

“A little bit…” Minah breathed before looking back up at him. Taekwoon was astounded by how wonderful she looked right then - dazed, with her swollen lips quirking up into a smile that Taekwoon kissed yet again. It was almost euphoric but he tried to keep it short. Who knew kissing someone could be this addictive?

 

“This is going to be a problem,” he sighed out when he pulled away.

 

“Why?”

 

“Can’t kiss you in class every time you say something smart,” he declared, making her roll her eyes.

 

“Well, you’ll have to learn. Like I’ll have to learn to kiss you better, you know, to keep up,” she wiggled her eyebrows and Taekwoon had to fight the urge to kiss her silly yet again.

 

“I volunteer to teach you,” he hugged her closer, feeling her press against him.

 

“Oh? How the  roles have reversed,” she mumbled into his chest at complete peace and comfort. Taking a deep breath of his scent she stayed still, holding on as they tried to stay in the bubble that was their moment.

 

They knew soon someone will come to burst this bubble, but that wouldn’t stop them from creating more memories to store away in their own little personal bubbles. Memories as friends, as lovers, as two people who deeply cared for one another. Till then, this was the best they could have. 


End file.
